Capekillers
by Evy Sevin
Summary: SHIELD has decided to solve the Super Villain problem their own way
1. Chapter 1

**New York City**

Agent Harrison of SHIELD steered the black armored truck expertly through the heavy New York traffic. He and his special squad of villain hunters, known as the Capekillers, had been tracking Janice Olivia Yanizeski, better known as the super-villain Joystick, for several days now and finally they had her in their sights.

A cop had seen her and called it in to the FBI but SHIELD's monitoring staff had intercepted it and sent them in her direction, all in the space of one minute. The other three Capekillers Agent Cancino, Agent Hunter and Agent Castillo quickly strapped on their specialized Capekiller armor.

He had been ready, as always, when they had received the call. He didn't wear his high-tech helmet while driving, but it sat next to him in the seat looking something like a cross between a helmet from the video game "Halo" and an ancient knight's helmet. His armor was full body and a muted gray in color with several built in weapons and other useful devices against their prey.

His squad was relatively small because it was relatively new. After the Absorbing Man and Thundra had gone on their rampage SHIELD had come under a lot of pressure to "do something" about the supervillain problem.

Though they were already actively working on the big names like Doctor Doom and the Red Skull, people like Thundra weren't exactly on the top of their wanted list, or at least they weren't. Now they had his small squad to focus on more street level threats that could escalate into something bigger.

Joystick was a bigger potential threat than any of the supervillains they had taken before, but it was a chance to prove themselves. "Alright you boneheads listen up! We're closing in on the target and she's probably getting ready for us as I speak! I want us to go in cool headed even though this is an alpha level threat villain. There's four of us and only one of her, so I want us to go in under attack pattern Kappa Seven."

"You're on her tail!" a voice came over the system in the SUV.

"I see her!" Agent Harrison called out as his vehicle bore down on the running villain. He used his booted foot to slam on the brakes. "Now boys, now!" the SUV skidded sideways as Harrison locked on the parking brake. Cancino and Hunter opened their doors on the passenger side and leaped out; their specialized armor used advanced hydraulics to soften the landing.

As they landed they let loose with their plasma rifles as their faceplates slid down forming a prism shape that helped deflect the energy blasts that Joystick could emit from her energy batons. The villainess turned just in time to use her red energy batons to deflect their blasts.

None of them came near the two as the other their compatriots had come to a skidding stop still in the SUV on the opposite side of their target. Now they had her surrounded. It didn't seem to faze her at all, in fact she smiled.

"Well, well, it looks like I've found myself some playmates," she crouched with her energy batons held in a ready position.

"We're not here to play, Janice," Harrison told her holding up his arm so that his wrist-mounted gun was pointed at her. "We are dead serious."

**Capekillers #1 **

**The Joy of Capekilling Part 1**

"**Fighting Fire with Fire"**

**By T. L. Veselka**

**SHIELD Helicarrier**

Calvin Rankin, otherwise known as Mimic, sat with his head bowed in his specialized energy cell. Not long ago SHIELD, somehow knowing of his connection to the latest incarnation of the Brotherhood, had captured him. They had questioned him, but he hadn't been much help, they didn't seem to care about mutant affairs anyhow, busy as they were with the rest of the world.

Rumors were that he would be transferred over to the Raft as soon as they had the chance. Calvin didn't care, either way he was locked away from the outside world yet again. He never seemed be able to catch a break. He sighed and rubbed his rough beard in irritation. What was it about him that caused everyone to dismiss him as little threat to anyone?

Years ago, thanks to an accident or thanks to genes, Calvin himself wasn't sure, he had gained the abilities of the five original X-Men; Jean Grey, Iceman, Beast, Cyclops and the Angel. Despite having all their powers he washed out of the X-Men, thanks to over-protective Professor Xavier, and he never had a chance since.

For a short time after leaving the team he seemed to have found himself, becoming a hero even in the eyes of his former teammates as he sacrificed himself to save them from the Super-Adaptoid and then the Hulk. However his sacrifice didn't last forever and he soon returned with his unstable powers.

In a bid to save his own life and stabilize his constantly fluctuating powers he allied himself with the monster known as Onslaught. The entity had fixed his powers, but at a price. He had been conscripted into the villain's service, and ever since then he had found himself on the wrong side of the law.

He didn't blame himself, but then again he never had, but if it hadn't been for Professor Xavier's meddling he probably would be a normal man right now with normal concerns. He wasn't sure if that wasn't exactly what he wished for, a life away from all of the marvels and mutants, a life of normalcy.

That would never happen now. Once he was charged with domestic terrorism and all of the other crimes he was sure they would add on to his sentence he was doomed to a life of poverty or crime. Once you were labeled a criminal in America you could never get over the stigmatism that label brought.

He flexed his wings the best he could in the cramped cell. Days of inactivity had caused his muscles to grow sore and stiff, not that he was likely to get any exercise any time soon. They certainly weren't going to allow him to go flying at the Vault or the Raft. He swore to himself as he thought of his future. The thought of meals side by side with the super-powered scum of the nation like Doc Oc or the Griffin made him squirm. He didn't belong with people like them, they'd chew him up and spit him back out for some breakfast fun.

He looked at his thick arms and enormous hands and imagined them in loose-fitting prison orange. A loud clang sounded from the entrance of the cell hall. All of the prisoners got to their feet in curiosity, there wasn't much to occupy their time on the helicarrier. Calvin could hear the click of men's dress shoes as they made their way down the hall.

A group of SHIELD agents stopped in front of his door. One of them was Agent Garfield, a guard of the cell hall, but the rest Rankin had never seen before. They all stared at him silently for a moment. Calvin shuffled his large bare feet awkwardly. What did they want from him?

Wordlessly agent Garfield pushed a series of numbers on the keypad next to Rankin's cell. There was a slight buzz as the force field that held him in disappeared. Still they were silent as they all walked into his now very cramped cell. Calvin felt a little panicky and spread his wings slightly in reflex.

"That's enough, Rankin," one blond agent said stiffly. Calvin breathed out slowly trying to slow his beating heart.

"Calvin Rankin," another agent said. "Prisoner number 24601, we have a proposition we'd like you to consider."

**New York City**

Agent Harrison let loose three darts. Each dart had been dipped in a specialized poison that had been synthesized specifically to slow down super fast marvels. Joystick easily batted them aside with one of her batons. Of course it would be difficult to get the poison in someone who could move three times faster than one's self.

Cops that had also been informed arrived on the scene but Harrison wasn't worried they'd get involved. SHIELD even now was ordering them to stand down and give Harrison and his agents room to work. Quickly New York's finest herded the pedestrians away from the scene, or at least the few who didn't know to get out of the way already. Those were probably tourists from the country.

The leader of the squad glanced about, satisfied that the civilians weren't in any immediate danger. "Now!" Agent Harrison shouted, using his armor to fire plasma rays at Joystick. Meanwhile Agent Cancino, following Harrison's plan, shot some of the poisonous darts from his wrist-mounted gun. Agent Hunter and Agent Castillo closed in on her from behind.

With one baton she casually deflected Harrison's plasma rays into a nearby building, causing dust and cement to plume over them. At the same time she pulled another energy baton from her wrist-mounted tech and destroyed the darts from Cancino. Smiling she swung her foot back in an arc, catching Agent Castillo in the groin.

Castillo crumpled to the cement and cursed her in ways even Harrison hadn't been aware of. "Castillo!" Agent Cancino called out, charging forward and blasting with a forearm mounted gun.

"No!" Harrison called out, but it was too late. Joystick had no trouble blocking the plasma bursts form Cancino. Using the same leg that she had used to bring down Castillo Joystick kicked it up just before Cancino arrived. The agent thought that she had made her first mistake and moved in. Grinning, Joystick brought her raised foot crashing down on Cancino.

The armored agent cracked that sidewalk when he hit the cement. Sparks flew and few pieces of the armor fell rattling to the ground. Still smiling she turned just enough so that Harrison and Hunter were in her view. "Who's next?"

"Son of a bitch! Cancino, you alright?" Harrison called over the comm system. They heard moaning from Castillo as he struggled to recover.

"Yeah," came Cancino's weak voice.

"Good, cuz I'm gonna kill you when this is over."

Hunter edged closer to his leader. "What'll we do now?"

"Stick to the plan, Hunter, if Cancino hadn't broken from it we'd still be in good shape." Harrison kept his eyes on Joystick.

"You boys going to come get me, or do I have to be the aggressive one?" Joystick flirted with a large grin on her face.

The two SHIELD agents edged closer to each other as she watched them. With a sudden swift movement she lifted both energy batons and slammed them together. The resulting energy slammed into Hunter, sending him crashing back into an abandoned taxi.

"I was getting bored," Joystick commented, looking at Harrison pointedly. "Think your man enough to keep me entertained all by yourself? Your little buddies sure didn't last long."

Castillo struggled to his feet. "I'm not done with you yet, bitch!"

Almost casually Joystick tossed one of her energy batons back behind her, striking Castillo and knocking him back down. "Oh, I think you are."

Taking advantage of her distracted mind Harrison turned on a personal energy-construct shield. It emanated from his right forearm and was almost the exact shape of Captain America's vibranium shield. Joystick barely got her batons up in time to stop him and when they collided she skidded backwards.

"Looks like you may be some fun after all."

_Energy Levels at 75%. _Harrison had forgotten how quickly the shield drained his energy. He would have to take care of Joystick fast. She beat at his shield with her batons, keeping him busy trying to stay out of harm's way. He needed to think of something or she would take him down just as easily as she had taken down his teammates.

"Don't tell me you're afraid to hit a girl," she laughed. The more she talked the less Harrison liked her. Gritting his teeth Harrison shoved forward with his shield while grabbing for the cold-generating pistol at his side.

Just as his fingers grazed the handle she slammed at his shield with both batons, knocking him back and forcing him to forget the pistol so he could regain his balance. Planting both feet more firmly he stood his ground against her assault. Sweat began beading down his face despite the internal cooling systems in the armor.

Joystick jumped back. "Well, this is no fun at all."

"I told you, we're not here to play."

"No, you're here to drop like flies!" with that Joystick hit her batons together. The resulting energy blast crashed over Harrison like a wave, but he stood strong behind his shield.

_Energy Levels at 50%._ Harrison cursed his armor. He should have been a marine, like his father.

"You may be old enough to be my father but I have to say, you can take a hit," Joystick twirled her batons lazily. "I can't imagine you'll be able to take much more than that. Few men can."

"I can take enough," Harrison grunted at her. He unsheathed a vibro-knife and slowly stalked toward her, his shield still on.

"Let's see!" she rushed forward with a baton raised. She swung downward in an arc, the baton left a glowing trail of light. She was testing him she had revealed the blow to him to see how he would react. He struck upwards with his humming vibro-knife, the jar of the impact caused his bones to shake.

He gritted his teeth and pushed forward with his energy shield. She winked and shoved back with her other baton. His armor groaned as it struggled to help him maintain his ground. Their weapons crackled as they pushed against each other, each struggling to dominate the other. The only problem was Joystick was still sporting that ridiculously large smile of hers.

_Energy Levels at 25%._ He had to end this quickly, but how? The shield was eating up his remaining energy supply, but he knew that as soon as he let it down she would blast him into oblivion.

He kicked forward, trying to press her back to at least lessen the strain on the suit. She did step back, abruptly. Harrison fell forward from the unexpected release in resistance. She scored a glancing blow across his back as he fell.

_Energy Levels at 20%_. He quickly rolled over and held up his shield. Just as he suspected a wave of energy came crashing down. It was a good thing that he hadn't been on his feet; he doubted he could have resisted the blast standing up.

_Energy Levels at 15%._ She kept her assault up and soon he would be nothing more they an overgrown paperweight. The blast stopped and he quickly clambered to his feet, helped by the hydraulic systems in the suit.

"Wow, I really am impressed." Joystick looked as if she wasn't being sarcastic for once. "Now if only you could dish out as well as you could take it."

_Energy Levels at 10%._ In a last desperate attempt Harris threw his vibro-knife at Joystick. She moved to block it but he had followed it up with three more speed-sapping darts from his wrist cannon. She easily batted the knife aside but luckily for him she hadn't noticed the darts.

One dart hit her armored arms and ricocheted off into a dark alley. Another passed harmlessly through her sandy hair. The last found its mark in her shoulder. Annoyed, she slammed her batons together with all of her might. A huge wave of energy spewed forth, enveloping Harrison in light.

_Energy Levels at 5%. Energy Levels at 4%. Energy Levels at 3%. Warning total system failure in . . . goodbye._

His visual systems went black and he neither saw nor heard anything for a few seconds that seemed to stretch on into an eternity. Then suddenly his helmet was jostled and light poured in as it was removed from his head.

"Looks like we found your limits," Joystick proudly proclaimed with a large smile. Then she stopped and her face became serious for a moment, she pulled out the dart. He had gotten her, but it had been too late. Then she crushed it and it was gone, another grin was slapped on her face. She reached down and yanked the communicator from his ear. Harrison tried to move but the armor was heavy and her foot planted firmly on his chest didn't help matters.

"Hello boys, I know you can hear me," Joystick proclaimed into the communicator. "Most of your boys could do with a lot more training before you send them up against me. Next time send some people who are at least going to make this interesting." With that she crumpled the titanium communicator in her hand.

"Wouldn't want to make it too easy on you and let you see where I am going," she said and slipped the helmet back on his head. "Oh and uh, get some better armor for our rematch."

With that she was gone and agent Harrison laid waiting for backup to come.

**Deep in the Rocky Mountains**

Agent Crowne had a stiff air about him that immediately told you he was stricter than a school nun and more boring than peanut butter and jelly. He rarely used SHIELD issue attire unless it was required. He preferred a nice charcoal suit with a perfectly straight monochromatic tie and Italian leather shoes.

He stepped down from the helicopter that had just landed him in one of the most top secret scientific research bases located in the United States. Coming to greet him were three scientists, he knew them well.

Doctor Ford had far too much energy and an awkward demeanor, though Crowne did appreciate the man's squeaky clean sense of humor. Doctor Lovejoy, on the other hand, was an entirely different type of person. Crowne had never seen the man without at least a five o'clock shadow, and he constantly ran his hands through his unkempt hair. Doctor Gorman was exactly the type of man you'd expect to be a scientist, small and quirky looking with glasses and thinning hair.

"Agent Crowne, what an unexpected surprise, please come right this way," Gorman usually spoke for the three of them. Crowne followed them into an unassuming brick building and onto a platform elevator that moved downward with a deep whirring sound that made Crowne nervous.

"I imagine you already know why I am here," Crowne said.

"Our group has numerous projects for your division, Agent Crowne," Gorman responded in a dismissive tone. "I couldn't possibly be sure as to which project you are here for. Is it for the Alpha wave transmitter, the living weapon, the Roadblock armor, or something else altogether?"

"The living weapon," Crown said dryly as the elevator finally stopped hundreds of feet below the Earth's surface. They walked across a long narrow metal crossway that bridged a forty foot gap between the platform elevator and a wide landing in front of an automatic sliding set of metal doors.

"Ah." Doctor Lovejoy nodded knowingly at Ford who shook his head slightly. "Come this way." He took the lead from Gorman as they entered the sliding door into a facility that made NASA look low-tech.

Other scientists were there, hordes of them. They scurried about from lab to lab and from computer to computer. They were all in a large open warehouse-like room. All around the room were closed doors with different symbols or numbers on them. The three scientists led the agent to the left and past several black metal doors until they arrived at another elevator.

"We keep him below," Lovejoy explained as he punched a code into a keypad elevated above the platform. It dinged and the elevator began to move down into the dark depths below, this one was much quieter. Suddenly Crowne was wishing he could hear the familiar sounds of the elevator motor.

They stopped in absolute darkness. Crowne had been briefed on the living weapon's psychological needs for his reprogramming otherwise he would have been suspicious. He didn't know where they procured their test subjects but they were very tight-lipped about it.

"He isn't ready," Lovejoy stated, motioning toward an adamantium door with a tiny slit in it. Agent Crowne walked forward and peered through the slit.

"Jesus!" he stood up and looked at the three scientists in disbelief. "He looks plenty ready to me!"

"Physically, yes," Doctor Gorman agreed.

"But," Lovejoy countered. "Mentally, he's nowhere near ready for the field. Believe me, you do not want this weapon out of your control."

"My men got their asses handed to them today," Crowne frowned deeply. "We paid you for a living weapon, and you have yet to deliver!"

"Patience, Agent Crowne," Lovejoy strained to remain calm. "You will have your living weapon and I think you'll see that once we're truly done with him, he will more than live up to your expectations."

"My men can't survive on promises, Doctor Lovejoy," Agent Crowne pointed at the scientist fiercely.

"Why don't you use some of the superhumans that you have in custody?" Ford suddenly asked.

**Field Injury Recovery Room, SHIELD base Alpha Tango Echo**

The recovery room at base was almost empty, only a few agents occupied the sterile white beds. One of them was Agent Cancino, his chest was wrapped in bandages that were stained with dried blood, over him stood Agent Castillo.

". . . so they had to at least respect that. I don't know if you heard the news yet, Cancino, but they're going to be putting a mutant criminal on our team. All they have to do is give us a few more specially trained agents. We don't need some criminal mutant who thinks he's a hero or villain."

"What'd Hunter say?" Cancino asked in a scratchy voice. They had put cameras down and up places Cancino didn't want to think about.

"He says that he'll keep his mouth shut, but from what I hear he's looking to get transferred, ASAP."

"Bad enough we lost today, now we're calling in civilian help. If we weren't already the laughing stock of SHIELD we are now."

"Don't remind me."

"What about Harrison?" Cancino asked a little more solemnly. "What's he gonna do? This was his baby."

"You know him, he'll grumble about, maybe make us do more hours on the course, but he'll do as he's told. He's a good soldier."

"Do you really think Hunter will leave?"

"Nah, he's stuck here, just like the rest of us."

"I suppose your right," Cancino laughed quietly.

**Somewhere over the New York City skyline**

In the two days that had passed Agent Cancino had healed considerably rapid. Of course, he had access to special healing formulas that SHIELD had developed over the years. Many of them were harmful in large doses but in small doses they were innocuous. They all stood together again, but this time they were riding in a helicopter.

"Alright boys, intelligence spotted Frank Payne, AKA Constrictor at the Empire State docks. We need to get in there quick before he slips away, Frank can easily shed his suit and get lost in the crowd that's sure to surface as soon as the action starts. He's only a Delta level threat so we should be able to take him easily." Agent Harrison briefed his team.

"Relax boss, he's not gonna be another Joystick," Agent Castillo laughed as he pushed the button to ready his parachute to deploy.

"That's what I told 'em but they weren't satisfied, so we're bringing your new teammate along."

"What!"

"Come on!" Castillo groaned. "We don't need him."

"Well until you can convince Crowne and his goonies of that I'm afraid you're going to have to put up with him. And this target it a code orange, do not harm him in any major way, if possible."

"Where's Rankin, anyway?"

"Right outside. Now, any other dumb questions you girls wanna ask so you can give yourselves time to work up the courage to jump?"

"Yeah," Castillo opened his mouth again. "If Rankin doesn't help take Payne down can we get rid of him?"

"No. Now get out." With that Harrison threw open the door on the helicopter and leaped into the open sky. Wind buffeted his face and body, he wore goggles to protect his eyes. The air was cold and his ears stung but the exhilaration of falling through the sky with nothing to hold him overpowered the little pains. He had jumped many times, but it never grew old or mundane.

"Wahoo!" A brown and orange blur passed him, rocketing towards the earth: Calvin Rankin, codename Mimic. He was the newest addition to the Superhuman Restraint Unit, better known as the Capekillers.

"Show off." Harrison groaned as the mutant below unfurled his gray-brown wings, slowing his descent. With the press of a button Harrison's 'chute opened. Soon the two were floating nearly side by side.

Mimic grinned, his face practically glowing with ecstasy. This was the first time he had been allowed to fly in the days since he had been captured by SHIELD. They had made an agreement, he served out the rest of his sentence as a Capekiller and he would get the freedom to fly and a room instead of a cell.

Mimic had agreed of course.

Harrison maneuvered his chute towards the target building below them, a sailing club. Constrictor seemingly wanted out of the US, and he wanted to go in style. He had invaded a sailing club for the rich and taken all there hostage. He planned on keeping them there, at least until his demands were met. He wanted a yacht, twenty million dollars and safe passage into Mexican waters.

Not a chance.

The docks were rushing up below them now, Agent Harrison could see the white painted sailing club rushing up at him. Spotting the club at nearly the same time, Mimic flattened his wings to his body and dove.

SMASH! Mimic hit the opaque skylight below them, instantly spreading his wings once he was through. There was an a bright red flash below, but Harrison couldn't tell its origin. Harrison cursed and pressed the button to release the chute. He plummeted through the skylight and toward the floor, his suit would compensate for the long distance drop.

He landed and the tiles below his shattered. He quickly took stock of the situation. Mimic had already engaged Constrictor but the rich hostages were all too near, screaming as they tried to avoid the firefight.

"Ok ladies, Ranking has already engaged the hostile, if you still want jobs you better get your asses in here!" Harrison called into the comm.

"Dammit Rankin!" Harrison could tell that was Castillo.

"Save some fun for us," Cancino called out, trying to play off his irritation as humor. It wasn't working.

Then suddenly there was an impact and Harrison saw stars. He fell to the ground, his body going limp, but he fought it. He opened his eyes only in time to see the adamantium coils that wrapped around him like the snake Constrictor took his name from. One coil wrapped around his legs, pressing until his bones threatened to break. The other twisted itself around his neck, choking him. The coils lifted him into the air until he could see Constrictor below him.

"If you move, I'll kill him," Constrictor choked Harrison pointedly as he looked at Mimic. Harrison's vision began to swim and he saw stars flying in front of his face. "Now, I'll only repeat this one more time. If I don't get what I have demanded in the next five minutes people are gonna start dying. And I think I'll start with this one."

Constrictor lifted Agent Harrison up so everyone could see his choking red face and began to squeeze harder.

To be continued . . .

'**Killer Komments**

Hope you enjoyed the first issue of Capekillers. Feel free to message me on this site or make a comment in the forums I would love to hear any feedback.

I am really excited to start this series here at Marvel Anthology. This is the first fanfic story of mine published anywhere other than . Thanks so much to the wonderful EIC for giving me a chance to bring this title over from Marvel Lab.

This title originally started out as my love letter to Avengers: the Initiative with a (planned) large rotating cast and the government involvement in Superhuman affairs, but involved into something much more.

Next time in Capekillers: Internal Strife and a new Capekiller


	2. Chapter 2

**Capekillers #2**

"**Acquisitions and Losses"**

**By T. L. Veselka**

**What's come before . . . **

After various superhuman threats have arisen to threaten New York and the world in general, SHIELD has come under pressure to come up with a response of their own. Their answer: a specially trained and equipped unit under the stern guidance of Agent Harrison in the field. After a badly ended brutal brawl with the villain Joystick SHIELD assigned ex-X-Man Mimic to the team and sent them after the underestimated mercenary, Constrictor who has held members of a New York yacht club hostage . . .

**Empire State Yacht Club**

Constrictor lifted Agent Harrison up so everyone could see his choking red face and began to squeeze harder. "If I don't get what I've demanded . . ." he began.

There was an explosion of glass and wood as the rest of the Capekillers dropped into the fight. One of them landed directly on Constrictor, making the mercenary drop Agent Harrison. He fell, gasping to the ground.

"We've got 'em, Boss Man," Agent Cancino shouted. He released his plasma gun and fired away.

Constrictor rolled to his feet and blocked the blasts with his adamantium coils. Each one moved with a speed and grace only matched by the very kind of animal after which the mercenary had named himself.

Calvin Rankin, aka the Mimic, had been tossed to the ground and knocked unconscious. Agent Harrison still struggled to regain his breath, the skin on his neck and chin was red and raw where Constrictor had squeezed him. The darts he had used on Joystick would do him little good here. Constrictor wasn't actually a super human; he was just a man in a suit, a deceptively dangerous suit.

Faceplates slid down as the three agents moved in on the outnumbered criminal. Constrictor may have been a low-level threat villain, but Agent Harrison had to admit the man had a brass set. Even as three specially trained Shield agents closed in on him he pressed back as if he had the advantage.

"I don't think this guy is going to go down as easily as we first thought," Harrison murmured over the system.

"Are you kidding me?" Agent Castillo laughed. "This guy's a chump, a poor man's Doctor Octopus."

With that a coil struck forward faster than a whip and plowed into Castillo, sending him flying backwards into one of the wooden walls carved to look like one was inside a luxury ship. Before either of his partners had time to react the coil lashed out sideways hitting both of the other newly arrived agents.

"Restraint unit to base, we need backup!" Agent Harrison called hoarsely into his system.

"No can do, Harrison, we've got Ultron drones invading all over the world. Hell, even She-Hulk is on a rampage. You'll have to do this one on your own, what happened to that mutant you got."

"He's out."

"What? But he was the only one with super powers . . ."

"Just goes to show you," Agent Harrison growled into the mic.

"Just goes to show you what, Agent Harrison?" Rankin's voice came from behind him. "That I'm worthless even with my superpowers? You guys have your suits and I have my powers, I'd say that makes us about even. Now, watch as I take this idiot out."

"Hold on, dammit!" Agent Harrison called out, straining his injured throat. "Quit rushing in, that's how you all keep getting taken out."

Thankfully Mimic stopped. "Why? You got some bright idea? I could use one right about now. Constrictor continued to struggle with Agent Hunter and Agent Cancino as they poured burst after burst of plasma at him. Adamantium was almost completely indestructible, and Harrison knew Mimic had nothing that could stand up to it, they had to get past them and hit the man.

"We need a three pronged attack," Harrison formulated. "Agent Castillo can you get up yet?"

"Unnn . . . I'm up."

"Okay, listen up. Castillo and I will flank him, one of us on each side. You, Rankin, come at him head on and use that eye blast thing you took from Cyclops. If that doesn't work use your ice or telekinesis to keep at him, I need you not to stop, do you understand me? Even if Castillo and I go down."

"You can bet your ass," Mimic agreed. "No matter what happens to you soldier boys I'll take this loser out."

"No heroics!"

"I don't think you'll have to worry about that," Mimic grinned and took flight with a flap of his brown wings.

"I believe it," Harrison said. With a nod to Castillo he took off, pumping his legs as fast as he could, assisted by the hydraulics in the suit.

The two human agents closed in on the criminal like pincers with plasma guns firing at full power. Constrictor lashed his coils about, deflecting the light blasts. Mimic dove in with his hands on his visor. One end of a coil lashed and smashed into his visor, sending it spinning down to the ground, but Calvin Rankin simply smiled.

He opened his eyes and a large red-orange concussive beam poured forth, cascading over the mercenary. It flung him back, his body collided with a chandelier and then dropped to the floor.

"Got 'im," Mimic smiled.

"Watch it!" Harrison called out, but it was too late. Constrictor rolled over and used one coil to smash directly into Rankin's chest. To the mutant's credit he grabbed onto the coil and yanked as hard as he could with his enhanced muscles thanks to the powers he had copied from Beast.

With a pained grunt Rankin swung upward on Constrictor's coil, but the mercenary wasn't finished yet. He pulled forward with his coil, sending his body rocketing back toward Mimic with his feet forward.

Calvin Rankin was quick to react and shot a blast of ice toward him. Frank's feet were coated in a large block of ice, he dropped like a rock. "Ah," he shouted when he hit the wooden floor. With a wince Constrictor smashed away the ice with his coils, but Mimic and the others weren't done with him yet.

With a raise of his hand Ranking lifted him up in the air with his telekinesis. Constrictor tried to struggle out of Rankin's mind grip, but it was trying to struggle in water, it did little good. Harrison and the injured Castillo trained their plasma rifles back on Constrictor and let loose.

The steady stream of plasma blasts didn't need to last long and soon Constrictor laid limp in the air and the team whooped in delight, at least those of them that could still yell. Blood trickled from Rankin's nose and he dropped Constrictor onto the floor and sat down.

"Harrison to base, the target is secure, we'll need drop ASAP," Harrison smiled as he proclaimed the sentence in his mic.

**Capekillers Headquarters, New York**

"Congratulations, team," Agent Crowne proclaimed with a large fake smile. "For your first successful capture in months."

Agent Harrison, a few cuts he had gained in his fight with Constrictor were stitched, grimaced at the back handed congratulations.

"At least my idea of bringing on Mr. Rankin here obviously paid off," Agent Crowne motioned to an obviously proud Mimic. The mutant winked arrogantly at Agent Cancino who ignored the behavior.

"What?" Agent Castillo groaned. "Are you serious? Come on."

"In light of this," Agent Crown frowned at Agent Castillo. "In light of this, I would like you to meet your newest teammate: Frank Payne, aka the Constrictor."

Constrictor, having been patched up, walked into the room and sat at the briefing table with the Capekiller team.

"You can't be serious," Agent Cancino seemed more surprised then angry.

"Have you ever known me to not be serious?" Agent Crowne glared down at the belligerent faces of the human Capekillers. "I offered him some time on the team to work off his sentence instead of serving it in prison. He'll be outfitted with the same shock-tracer in his system as Mr. Rankin here."

"We're SHIELD agents, you can't expect us to keep working with criminals like this," Castillo pointed out.

"Oh I can, and I do expect you to do whatever it is that I tell you to do," Crowne pointed at Castillo with a stiff finger. "These two have been given temporary SHIELD agent status. They are SHIELD agents every bit as much as you are."

"My boys are tired, Agent Crowne, can we move on to a better topic, like what we're doing next?"

"After all of the chaos today, with your teammate's threat, the Ultron drones, and She-Hulk's rampage SHIELD has decided to give you all some relaxing time. You two newbies get to stay on the base, but the rest of you are free to relax." With that, Crowne left the briefing room.

"You freaks have fun here at the base," Agent Castillo grinned viciously at his new teammates and left the room. The rest were silent as they left the room, none of them looking twice at the two former criminals.

Agent Crowne walked down the halls of Fort Davis at a brisk pace. Bad enough he had to deal with rebellious agents but now Doctor Allen had called him in with a very scared tone in his voice. Nothing seemed to be working out for him lately, first Ford hadn't been ready for him, and now something had happened with the Ant-Man project.

Years ago Scott Lang had worked with SHIELD and during that time he had left an damaged suit and helmet behind. Ever since then SHIELD scientists had been hard at work trying to recreate the Ant-Man suit. No, they had not been attempted to recreate the Ant-Man suit but to improve upon it.

"What's going on, Doctor Allen?" Crowne asked with his hand to his communicator. "This had better be good."

"You had just better come and see." came Doctor Allen's voice in his earpiece.

Why did the doctor always have to be so secretive? He walked furiously on, all of the agents that crossed his path were quick to jump out of his way. He stopped when he saw two agents he recognized all too well standing in the passageway arguing with each other.

"What's going on here, Greene, O'Grady?" Crowne advanced on them with a dark frown marring his handsome face. The two agents stepped back nervously, glacing at each other.

"Answer me, one of you," Crowne was practically on top of them now and he could see they were both sweating profusely. "Why have been called away from my other important business?"

"It's gone, sir!" Agent Greene blurted out after Agent O'Grady jabbed him in the ribs with an elbow.

"The suit is gone?" Crowne couldn't believe what he was hearing. How could a top secret project be stolen from a locked room in the middle of a SHIELD compound? How had the thief even known of its existence?

"Yes."

"When did this happen?"

"Just about fifteen minutes ago when we were doing the checklist in the camera room." O'Grady finally said something.

"Who did this?"

"We have men working on that right now," reassured Doctor Allen as he stepped out of the Ant-Man room.

"We have a match, Doctor!" a voice came over the intercom system.

"Let's get moving," Crowne adjusted his tie. Allen led him to the observation room where all of the cameras' feeds were fed into this room where it was all recorded and observed by a single SHIELD agent.

Agents Greene and O'Grady reluctantly followed behind them, they knew better than to try and leave now. Another agent was inside the observation room, he stood in front of the central video display with two different pictures up. One was of the Ant-Man room and inside was an elderly man with the red and silver Ant-Man suit in his hands. The other was a face shot of the same man.

"His name is Raul Chalmers, otherwise known as the Black Fox," the agent explained. "He's a professional jewel thief that's come into contact with various super humans and SHIELD a few times before."

"How did he get in?"

"That's the kicker," the agent told them, he rewound the picture of Black Fox in the Ant-Man room. He stopped and played it when Black Fox arrived at the code-locked door. With a quick glance at his wrist the older thief quickly punched in the secret code that only four agents knew. The door opened and the man just walked in and grabbed the suit as if he had known exactly where it would be.

"How the hell did this happen?"

"We're still working on that, sir," the agent answered, closing the picture of the video. "What do you want to do about Black Fox, sir?"

Agent Crown sighed. "Get the Capekillers before they leave. Agents Greene and O'Grady, you're with me."

"What are we doing, sir?"

"We can't let anyone else get their hands on that suit," Crowne explained briefly. "We're going after Chalmers.

**New York City**

The Capekillers all stood without their armor in the back of the SHIELD van that they used usually during sting operations. "We're going after Black Fox, he's such a low level risk that we don't have much intel on him at all, however he isn't stupid and he's pretty agile so don't get too relaxed." Crowne told them. He rarely came out on field missions and his presence made them feel safe on this mission.

"Since we've upped the budget for the Capekillers we decided that you all need new armor, so that your batteries won't fail you like they did against Joystick, Agent Harrison. It's too bad we don't have time to let you practice with them, we have lots of new upgrades, including a rapid response pulse which is basically a taser linked up directly to your heads' up displays."

Armor was lowered down from the ceiling above. "Now this is what I am talking about!" a bandaged Agent Castillo grinned largely.

"Suit up, we have a tracer on the suit and we're almost on top of this guy," Crowne smiled.

Agent Harrison looked at the sleek new suits. The armor was a bit darker than before and a SHIELD symbol was etched into the right shoulder. The helmets that were suspended above were similar in design to the ones before but they glowed with an eerie glowing blue light to them.

Lights were affixed to various parts of the armor and it was nearly seamless to provide less weak points. He approached the armor and it split in half and opened wide for him automatically. He hesitantly stepped in and let it close in on him. The armor was never for the claustrophobic.

The heads up display lit up and he saw the power was at one hundred percent. He saw more plasma guns and there was the rrp that Crowne had mentioned. He could charge the outer shell of the armor and several more weapons were on his display. Harrison smiled at the sight of them.

"Boys," he said into his mic. "It looks like we're ready to engage the enemy. The old man doesn't stand a chance."

To be continued . . .


	3. Chapter 3

**Capekillers #3**

"**Defection"**

**By T. L. Veselka**

**What's come before . . .**

After various superhuman threats have arisen to threaten New York and the world in general, SHIELD has come under pressure to come up with a response of their own. Their answer: a specially trained and equipped unit. Included in their ranks are the mutant Mimic, and the serpent-themed mercenary Constrictor. An illegally reverse-engineered Ant-Man suit was stolen from Agent Crowne's care and he has sent the Capekillers, along with two other SHIELD agents, after the thief known as the Black Fox.

**New York City**

"Okay, what've we got?" Harrison growled into his mic. They were hopping out of the van in their new Capekiller armor. Though it weighed nearly thirty-five pounds heavier than the last armor it felt much lighter. They no longer relied on hydraulics to help them lift or move, instead the upgrades they had received from Stark Industries did all the work with energy quite similar to the guardsman armor Stark had helped build.

"He's somewhere in the Truno Industries building," Crowne answered coming out of the black van SHIELD used for observation and sting operations. Truno Industries was actually an entertainment corporation; they produced games, movies, music, books, and art. The thirty story building was a building made to look as if five towers of steel and glass had melted into each other. "There's a lot of metal and cement in that thing, it's making the tracer harder to locate."

"Can we get some agents in here to cover the exits?" Harrison requested as politely as he could manage.

"This stays a small operation, the less anyone hears about this the better," Crowne acquiesced. "I can get one agent for each door. Your boys are going to have to pick up the rest from there. Do you think they can handle that?"

"Yes, sir," Harrison ground his teeth. "Do we have blueprints yet?"

"They are hacking into them now," Crowne told him. "You should see it on your HUD shortly."

"Capekillers, get your butts over here," Harrison yelled.

"Ouch!" Mimic said into his mic. He, Constrictor, and the non-Capekiller agents hadn't been given suits like the original Capekiller agents. Instead the two super humans both sported the communications helmet and additional patched-on armor wherever SHIELD had been able to find a weakness in their personal armor. "We all have earpieces, there's no need to shout!"

"Then get your ass over here like you heard me!" Harrison shouted again into his mic. Everyone scrambled to obey. Crowne had shut his earpiece off. They all gathered around their field leader.

"Alright, everyone pull up the file you just received on your HUD," Harrison ordered. "As you can see on the blueprints there are two main exits, the obvious one here in the front and another on the West side near the rear of the building. Cancino, I want you to take Castillo, O'Grady, and Constrictor to the back there and sweep all of the odd floors. Meanwhile I'll take the front entrance with Hunter, Greene, and Mimic and sweep the even floors until we find the Black Fox."

"What've got on this guy?" Cancino asked.

"Not much," Harrison admitted. "Pull up the file labeled Chalmers on your HUD. His name is Raul Chalmers, he is described as agile and intelligent though he is getting a bit old. He is listed as non-aggressive and rarely puts up much of a fight, but that doesn't mean we should underestimate him, the man's got an Ant-Man suit so sweeping for this guy is gonna be tough. However, as you can see in the upper left corner of your HUD, we do have a tracer that should help us out once we get in closer to the guy and the signal gets stronger."

"I want you to go in there and get that suit back as fast as you can," Crowne added in. "And whatever you do don't kill that man or do anything else that would keep him from speaking. I want to have a talk with him."

"So as long as he can talk we're good?" Constrictor asked with a grin on his face.

"I want my Ant-Man suit back," Crowne said. Something in his voice made Harrison feel cold in the pit of his stomach.

"Let's move!"

Mimic alighted in the air with his large brown wings and flew over the SHIELD agents in their special armor. With their specially developed energy accelerators the agents were able to run fast enough to keep up. Behind them ran the other SHIELD agents that had answered Crowne's call to guard the doors. Those agents hadn't been specially outfitted for this mission and wore standard SHIELD uniforms.

Mimic landed and together Harrison's team ran in together through the large sliding glass double doors. People milled about in the large open entry that was festooned with plants and varying water features. They were all so busy in their menial tasks they didn't notice the SHIELD agents at their front door.

"There are too many civilians, we've got to get them out of here," Harrison hollered. "Check your scanners."

"If he's on the same level as you the scanner should have no trouble picking the suit up," Crowne interjected over the communications system from outside.

"Just what I wanted to hear," Harrison smiled. He lifted up a 9mm pistol from a small side compartment in his leg armor. BLAM! BLAM! BLAM! He fired three shots into the thick wooden wall. Some people screamed and many ducked for cover. "Alright I need everybody out right now. This is agent Harrison from SHIELD and a wanted criminal has entered the building!"

With a few more shrieks, and even a few sobbing adults, everyone began to leave as quickly as they could without taking their eyes off the Capekillers. The agents stood still, their very presence forced a quiet calm over the panicking people.

Once everyone was gone they quickly raced toward the stairs to reach the second floor. "Cancino, report."

"We just got in, caught a couple making out, but other than that nothing but silence," Cancino came over the system.

"We're making our way to the second level, report back in once you've cleared the third."

"Copy that."

"That bastard's in here somewhere and I intend to find him." Harrison declared to his team. "Even if he's only a third of an inch tall."

Agent Cancino led the team through a hallway of offices on the first floor. Harrison wanted to find this guy and Cancino wasn't going to take his chances that the old thief hadn't figured out a way around their sensors.

"Come on," agent O'Grady whined. "We've got thirty floors to cover and if we take this long with each floor he'll have evolved wings by the time we find him."

"I ain't takin' chances," Cancino refuted.

"Maybe we should split up," O'Grady said. "We could cover our ground much quicker, besides you heard agent Crowne, this guy isn't really a threat when it comes down to a fight."

"I don't think so," Cancino shook his head. "I am not pairing one of my men with the mercenary." He nodded his head at Constrictor.

"I'll go with him," O'Grady volunteered.

"We stick together," Cancino rounded on O'Grady and stood looking down at him. "Now shut up and do your job."

"Yes, sir," O'Grady mumbled quietly and stalked away.

Constrictor and agent Hunter kept their silence as they searched as they had been instructed. Cancino glared at O'Grady's back as the agent trotted toward a nearby office to search. Cancino wasn't sure if it was the young agent's attitude or his shifty little hazel eyes but he didn't trust him.

After they finished the offices they turned and headed up the stairs once more toward the third level. As they entered the stairwell and climbed the steps they could hear a large group of other feet rapidly heading down towards them. With a quick motion from Cancino they all stopped and gathered into a triangular formation.

"Don't shoot!" shouted a woman when she rounded the corner and spotted the armored men with their guns held in ready position. "We were on the second floor, some men from SHIELD told us we had to get out of here."

Behind the woman were about twelve more average looking office workers. "Pull up our pictures of Chalmers," Cancino ordered the Capekillers over his mic. Once the old thief's picture was showing for comparison they stood on the edge of the stairs.

"I need you to pass slowly, one by one," Cancino informed the civilians. "Please keep your face in full view and look straight at me when you pass us by."

They watched carefully as each civilian walked slowly by staring at their crystalline masks that hid their faces. The scared civilians walked by as if they had been walking on a tight rope, their muscles visibly tense. Near the back of the line an elderly lady stumbled and fell to her knees, a number of papers and other office supplies scattered around her.

"Here," Cancino reached forward and tugged at the elderly woman's elbow to help her up. "Let me help you up."

"Oh, my files," she said shrilly and before Cancino could help her up she had thrown herself at the floor on all fours and began to gather up the papers.

"Ma'am," Cancino was forcing himself to be polite and it was becoming more and more evident. "I need you to . . ."

The older lady suddenly lunged up and knocked Cancino to the floor with a heavy push and fled down the stairs.

"Payne!" Cancino shouted out.

"On it!" Constrictor lashed out with one of his adamantium coils and wrapped it around the old woman's waist and yanked her back. Her wig fell off and revealed an elderly gentleman with a hastily half-cut mustache and a sour look on his face.

"That's our guy!" Cancino shouted. The rest of the civilians scattered to get away from the developing fight. "Wrap him up, we don't want him slipping away from us again while we wait for Harrison."

Constrictor pulled out his other coil. Raul Chalmers threw his hands over his face and screamed. "Wait! Wait! Don't hurt me! I can tell you what you want to know!"

"What are you talking about? I don't care what you know. I want you and the suit you stole."

"You mean you don't want to know how I knew the combination to get into the safe room?"

"Look," Cancino sighed. It had been a trying last few weeks. "I don't know what you are talking about, but I am sure my superiors will be more than glad to hear your story when we get back to headquarters."

"It was him," Raul Chalmers frantically pointed at one of the SHIELD agents. "It was him, and I can prove it."

Agent Harrison watched as the last civilians ran through the emergency exit door to the stairs. His agents were busy finishing up the sweep of the second floor in their search for the Black Fox. They would be met by Cancino's men in the stairwell. How the old man had been able to gain access codes to extremely sensitive SHIELD safes was beyond him.

"Agent Cancino, it's been three minutes since your last check-in, what's your status?" Harrison spoke into his mic.

"Harrison!" Cancino's voice sounded alarmed. "It was one of our own! It was one of our own that . . ."

"Cancino?" Harrison shouted into his mic. "Cancino, come in! Cancino, report! Dammit, Alex if you aren't dying or dead I'll kill you myself!"

"What do we do?" agent Greene asked nervously. He had admitted to Harrison that he hadn't been out on the field much on the drive over. He was used to being a pencil pusher.

"We go back up our men," Harrison said lowly, energizing his weapons in preparation of the fight to come.

Agent O'Grady took advantage of the shock following Raul's announcement and clubbed Constrictor in the temple with the butt of his pistol. The former mercenary dropped like a sack of potatoes, letting go of the Black Fox in the process. The elderly man lunged at Agent Castillo before the latino could react. He used a dagger to cut off Castillo's communications systems, Raul knew the suits before even the Capekillers had seen them thanks again to some intelligence O'Grady had sold him.

O'Grady used his pistol to do the same to Cancino, right in the middle of the good soldier boy talking to his boss. He didn't consider himself to be a villain, he just had bills to pay, like everyone else. Of course, it didn't hurt that the ladies like a rich man. He hadn't given the man a nuclear bomb or anything, just a stupid shrinking suit that SHIELD shouldn't have been making anyway.

"Harrison! It was one of our own." Cancino turned on O'Grady and energized his rapid response pulse. That was going to hurt. "It was one of our own that . . ."

O'Grady squeezed his eyes shut in anticipation of the pain, but none came. He opened his eyes to see Raul with a knife placed conveniently right into the armor of Cancino where the battery lay. Cancino was powered down and completely immobilized.

"Let's get out of here!" Chalmers motioned for O'Grady to move. O'Grady looked past Black Fox to see Castillo also in completely powered down armor cursing himself inside his clumsy helmet.

"I can't believe you sold me out!" O'Grady shouted, thrusting an angry finger at Raul Chalmers.

"I saved you! I could have taken off but I stuck around to help you out, now let's get out of here before the rest of them arrive."

"You're right," O'Grady agreed. Then, without warning, he clubbed Raul Chalmers over the head, twice. "If you hadn't ratted me out, I wouldn't have needed saving, you asshole!" He bent down and turned over the limp body of his former friend. "Now where is it? Ah! There it is." O'Grady removed something from a small bag at Raul's waist and took off running.

**Capekillers Headquarters, 2 Hours Later**

"Once this mission is over you are off the team!" Agent Crowne was red in the face and glaring at agent Cancino.

"Agent Crowne!" Harrison began.

"Can it!" Crowne rounded on Harrison. "I don't want to hear a word from you. If it wasn't for _my_ ideas, the ideas that _you_ fought, this team would have lost its funding. Thanks to the small successes of capturing Constrictor and now the Black Fox you have a new lease on life, agent Harrison. I suggest you don't cut that lease short by contradicting me."

"Yes, agent Crowne," Harrison replied stiffly, behind his back his hands were curled into tight fists.

Agents Castillo and Hunter gathered behind their field leader, they all knew that this wasn't over. Agent Cancino, on the other hand, sat despondently behind them all, not looking at anyone.

Mimic stood separate from the SHIELD agents, Constrictor sat in a fold-out chair next to him, a large ice pack held to his temple. He was lucky O'Grady hadn't done worse damage, as it was his left eye was purple and swollen and a large knot had formed over his temple.

Agent Greene stood alone, unsure of what to do with himself, he didn't belong to any of this. He had simply been placed on guard duty after pissing off his superior officer. He normally was a legal assistant. He had never wanted to get involved in the field, yet here he was. Agent O'Grady going AWOL hadn't helped Greene's chances of getting out of this assignment anytime soon either.

"Lucky thing for you losers," agent Crowne began again, albeit a bit more calmly. "I had a second tracer placed in the helmet, just in case the suit and helmet got separated. Agent O'Grady shouldn't have any idea the tracer exists."

"Why didn't we just follow the signal from the Truno building?" Agent Hunter asked.

"In order for the tracer to be activated the suit has to be used first," Crowne told them. "O'Grady isn't a complete idiot and knows we'll have you looking for him, he's bound to use the suit to try and hide sooner or later."

Agent Crowne's earpiece communicator lit up and he placed a finger on it. "Agent Crowne. Are you sure? Keep us informed."

"What is it?" Harrison asked.

"We have a signal."

**Twin Peaks Gentleman's Club, New York City**

Twin Peaks sounded much nicer than it actually was. The floor was rarely mopped and the drinks were watered down. Some of the walls were peeling in places and the service staff had a collective look of annoyance on their faces. What money the owner seemed to save on place went into the strippers.

The women had perfect tans with their nails, hair and accessories all done professionally each night before show time. They looked exactly as they were supposed to, no stretch marks, they were perfectly clean, and they cared about their job. The fact they went home with hundreds every night didn't hurt, but the owner was about to regret his most cheapest decision yet. He had no insurance.

"Everybody down!" Agent Harrison shouted angrily as he came charging through the main doors. Perhaps betraying their familiarity with the wrong side of the law, most of the customers quickly and silently did as they were told. The performers looked about in confusion.

Mimic and Constrictor walked in behind him. "I like this guy's style." Constrictor commented. "He steals a multi-million dollar suit and the first thing he does is get up and personal with some strippers."

"I don't see anybody that looks like Ant-Man to me," Mimic chimed in. The rest of the Capekiller agents filed in behind them.

"He might have known about the tracer in the helmet and left it here as a joke on us," Hunter guessed.

"The signal is strongest . . ." Agent Harrison pulled up the tracer on his HUD and aimed his gun at where it was trying to zero in. "Next to that pole!" They advanced toward a rather confused looking stripper.

"I didn't do anything!"

Agent Harrison put his finger to his lips and silenced her. Staring at the stage where the pole was situated he grabbed a bottle of beer.

"Drinking on the job?" Constrictor joked. "Agent Harrison, I am surprised that is so unlike you."

"Shut up," Agent Harrison barked quietly.

He threw the beer at the stripper's feet. "Eeeew, what the hell?" she shrieked angrily at him.

Before anyone could react they saw what Agent Harrison was after. A red and silver form suddenly grew out of the beer. Agent O'Grady, fully suited as Ant-Man, had been getting an enormous private peepshow.

However instead of finishing growing and attacking the agents he raced through the great flood of beer to a small crack in the platform stage and shrunk down and disappeared as he fell into the small dark crack.

"Out of the way!" Agent Harrison shouted in frustration at the stripper, who fled in tears. "Constrictor, get him out of there!"

One of Constrictor's coils slammed into the stage, sending splintering wood flying. Seeing that the agents weren't after them the customers fled the scene in panic and several of the workers did as well. The strippers gathered together in one corner of the stage and shrieked in unison.

After O'Grady failed to appear Constrictor followed up his first with another coil, creating a three foot hole in the stage. The strippers, now completely scared, helped each other off the stage.

"I could use my telepathy to try and find him," Mimic offered after more wanton destruction of the stage.

"It wouldn't do any good, there are psi-shields installed in the helmet, and besides your no good with telepathy. I've read your file."

Before Mimic could respond he was interrupted by the sound of shattering glass. Something big came flying toward them through the tinted glass doors. Mimic used his extra-fast reflexes to leap out of the way, using his wings to boost his jump. Constrictor was too busy trying to tear apart the stage to notice, but it was Agent Harrison who took the brunt of the impact as the two were taken down.

A large form stood up from where the two Capekillers lie motionless. It had huge white eyes that glared at them above glittering teeth. Most of its body seemed to be in perpetual motion as some sort of sentient black and red tar lashed about it. It advanced slowly toward them.

"Who or what are you?" Agent Cancino took command immediately. "I've got a fifty percent match on the villain Venom, but you're not him are you?"

"I got a fifty percent match on someone else," Agent Castillo piped up.

"Who?"

"Carnage?"

The being snorted derisively, "I am neither Venom nor Carnage." It said in an eerie dual voice. "I am Toxin, to people like you. I don't know who you think you are, but just because these are strippers doesn't mean the law doesn't protect them, and that means so do I!"

With that the creature leaped at them, fangs gleaming and enormous claws bared as it snarled.

To Be Continued . . .

Ok, I want to have a letters/comments section but the name Capekillers doesn't exactly lend itself to an easy title for it. So, I leave it to you readers to come up with suggestions and I'll choose the name I think best reflects this title and my own quirky personality.

Next Issue: Agent Crowne takes advantage of someone's good intentions, the return of a familiar face, and several showdowns. Tune in during our next release for the most action-packed issue of Capekillers yet!


	4. Chapter 4

**Capekillers #4 by T. L. Veselka**

"**Symbiotic"**

**What's come before . . .**

After various superhuman threats have arisen to threaten New York and the world in general, SHIELD has come under pressure to come up with a response of their own. Their answer: a specially trained and equipped unit. Included in their ranks are the mutant Mimic, and the serpent-themed mercenary Constrictor. An illegally reverse-engineered Ant-Man suit was stolen from Agent Crowne's care and he has sent the Capekillers after the man truly responsible, one of SHIELD's own, Agent Eric O'Grady. They have tracked him down to a strip club only to encounter a monster that has mistaken them for criminals.

**Twin Peaks Gentleman's Club, New York City**

"Hit it with all you've got!" Cancino ordered quickly triggering his rapid response pulse. Lights flashed against the monster's free-flowing hide, but it barely seemed to slow it down. Hunter and Castillo were quick to join their companion, but it was too late.

With a piercing hiss the monster was on Castillo, ripping at his new armor. It's great maw opened up revealing the rows of razor sharp fangs inside. Castillo froze, what was this thing? A long writhing black tongue It picked him up and tossed him aside, thinking of him as no longer a threat.

"Why didn't you shock that bastard?" Castillo asked him. "We can charge our suits now, remember?"

"I was too busy pissing myself," Castillo growled, climbing to his feet. The two Capekillers glanced back to find Hunter already in the monster's grasp. Rankin let loose with an optical blast and even a blast of ice from his right hand, but little seemed to slow the Toxin monster much. Harrison and Constrictor were both still laying unconscious on the floor among the shattered glass and splinters of wood.

"These people have no defense," the creature hissed at Hunter. "It's scum like you that attack the defenseless. You make me sick!" With that Toxin backhanded Hunter, cracking the Capekiller helmet. Cooling gel and blood oozed from the broken mask.

"That's it!" Cancino yelled, forgetting his mic was on. The other Capekillers groaned as they held their heads. "Time to break out the big guns, men," Cancino growled. With a push he opened the compartment that contained his 9mm, meanwhile he blasted at the Toxin monster with his plasma blaster.

"Aaahhhh!" It hissed as it leaped away from Cancino. It's strange white eyes glared at him balefully.

"OK, guys, we've finally found something that hurts this guy," Cancino smiled taking careful aim at the alien beast. "He really doesn't like plasma!"

"Wait . . ." a weak voice came over their intercom system. "Confusion . . ."

"Hunter, you alright man?" Castillo asked, but his friend was out again, he had used the last of his strength to say those words before he passed out.

"Dammit," Cancino glared back at Toxin. "Rankin, do your best with your telepathy, and try to figure out what Hunter was trying to say."

"What are you gonna do?" Mimic asked.

"Keep him distracted," Cancino asnswered, nodding at Castillo. Together they advanced on the formidable Toxin, plasma guns held at the ready.

"I can't get a good fix on his mind," Mimic answered, with a shake of his head. "His mind is drifting everywhere; I can't do this while he is out of it."

"Then get the info from shark fangs here," Cancino motioned at Toxin with his 9mm pistol. Toxin dodged easily to the side and took cover behind a granite wet bar.

"I'll do my best," Mimic turned toward the symbiote and closed his eyes. He looked almost pained but no sound escaped his lips.

"I can feel you in there!" Toxin raged. "Get out of my head!"

Heedless of the plasma guns or the 9mm pointed at him, Toxin jumped over the granite bar, ready to fight. For a small second both SHIELD agents still in the fight were too surprised to fight back, but that didn't last long.

Castillo and Cancino opened fire at once, plasma blasts searing the ceiling above their heads as more of the strip club began to fall around their ears. Toxin hissed and grabbed two chairs and threw them, one at Cancino and one at Rankin. Castillo blasted the chair aimed at their mutant teammate and wood splinters exploded in every direction.

Dust began to choke the air, and it was getting more and more difficult for the opponents to see each other. Cancino saw a large form through the dust and took aim, hoping it wasn't a revived Constrictor or Harrison.

"Wait!" Rankin suddenly shouted, everyone froze. "It's like there are two minds in there, and both think we are the criminals. He's just trying to protect the innocent."

As the dust settled the four men still on their feet stared at each other, distrustingly. Was Rankin on the level, or did he just use his telepathy to get Toxin's help to escape? Cancino swore to himself silently, this was why Harrison was in charge of the team.

"Is what he says true?" Cancino pressed, advancing on Toxin with both plasma guns extending from his Capekiller armor.

"What right do you have to question me? I was the one that came here to find you all tearing the place apart," Toxin's voice seemed almost human for a moment.

"We are after a wanted criminal," Cancino explained. "He stole some technology from SHIELD and they sent us to get it back."

"You guys are SHIELD?"

"What do you think this logo—" Cancino stopped himself, Toxin had completely scratched off the engraved SHIELD insignia. "What do you think our logos stand for?" Cancino pointed at Castillo's engraving.

"I doubt your criminal is still here," Toxin waved his hand about the now empty strip club. Large chunks of wood and ceiling scattered all over the floor and the dust in the air still floated about in its complex ballet. "It's empty."

Cancino took a look at his HUD. "Guess again."

"Guess you can't move that fast when you're less than an inch tall," Castillo laughed.

"Actually," a voice that started out small grew and grew as the red and silver suited O'Grady stood before them. "Thanks to shields upgrades, I can move quite fast. So fast, in fact, that I had time during your little squabble to bring reinforcements."

"What are you talking about?" Castillo snorted derisively.

An Ominous humming noise filled the air and it seemed as if the very wall came alive as a carpet of red and black ants marched their way towards the shield agents. From the broken door came in an enormous swarm of hornets, heading straight for Rankin and Toxin.

"So," Toxin hissed, sounding less human than ever. "You are the one that is responsible for all of this!"

Toxin leapt at O'Grady. The ex-SHIELD agent lifted up one silver booted foot. Just as Toxin was upon him with his claws and fangs O'Grady let loose with a fiery blast from his jet-boot. Fire poured over the symbiote. A strange shrieking sound mixed with the cry of a man in pure agony filled the destroyed club.

"Time to cut our losses and get the hell outta here," Castillo dove for cover under a table. "Let's go!"

"I'm not leaving Hunter and Harrison here, not in his hands," Cancino grimaced. He hoped that the suits were air-tight so that the insects couldn't get in, but with the scratches made by Toxin his chances weren't good.

"Fine," Castillo jumped out from his table and grabbed Hunter and with his enhanced strength, thanks to the new suits, picked the man up like a rag doll and ran for the tinted shattered front door. Cancino cussed a few more times and jumped over to where Harrison lay still as a dead person, but he had a pulse. Already ants were beginning to chew at the team leader's suit.

"Get off him you little bastards!" Cancino swiped furiously at the ants that were quickly beginning to cover Harrison. After several more fruitless attempts at cleaning off his commanding officer he gave up and picked the man up, ants and all.

On his HUD Cancino could see the hornets swarming about him, trying to find some small chink in his armor where they could invade and incapacitate. Quickly, without a last look at his other two teammates he charged after Castillo.

"Typical," Rankin growled. "Us freaks are left to fend for ourselves." He used his wings to blow away the swarm of hornets that came at him in the millions. He quickly grabbed one of Constrictor's coils and grabbed the smoking leg of Toxin. "This isn't over, O'Grady."

With a quick charge he dashed through what was left of the front glass door, a few quick flaps lifted him into the air and away from the destroyed Twin Peaks Gentleman's Club. If they hadn't installed the electrical chip in his head Mimic would just keep flying until he was far out of Crowne's reach. Instead he headed back to headquarters; he saw the van they had come in below driving away from the smoking wreckage.

**Capekillers' Headquarters, 1 hour later**

Harrison, Payne, and Hunter all lay in hospital beds, IV's were hooked up to each of them and the two SHIELD agents were covered in bandages. Frank Payne, also known as the Constrictor, lay with them sullenly.

"What's the matter, Payne," Harrison grunted. "You didn't even get hurt that bad, or is it the company you're keeping?"

"Well," Frank glared at Harrison. "You certainly don't help things."

"I've read your file," Harrison told him.

"Big Surprise."

"I know you were once an agent for SHIELD," Harrison told him. "What happened?"

"I put my life at risk every day so that I could get paid barely better than minimum wage," Frank answered. "What do you think happened?"

"Well, welcome back to the Force," Harrison chuckled to himself lightly. "I bet you didn't think you'd end up back with us."

"As soon as I am through with this unit I am gone again," Frank stated flatly. "I am not 'back on the Force'. This shit is for chumps."

"I thought you told Doctor Samson you were hoping to turn over a new leaf with the Capekiller unit, that's why Crowne let you join."

"I just said whatever kept me out of jail," Payne grunted. "Whaddaya want, a sob story? Poor me I am only a villain because life has been hard on me and I cannot afford another means of acquiring money. Bah! Go psycho-analyze a true SHIELD agent."

"What happened to that Toxin guy?" Hunter interrupted weakly. His head was bandaged and a large blood stain was slowly forming on it. He had multiple fractures, a few cracked ribs, and his face looked like bad hamburger. His brown eyes squinted out from his swollen discolored flesh, looking imploringly at Harrison.

"They've still got him in critical condition," Harrison said. "Rest up now, Hideki, I need you back on the team as soon as possible." Hunter didn't say anything, he knew they had failed at their objective and Cancino was more than likely packing his bags.

"Something good came from all of this," Harrison said. Hunter's stomach sunk, when Harrison was positive and heartwarming he knew that things were at their worst. "Crowne decided, that with you temporarily incapacitated, Cancino would only be put on probation instead of fired. He handled himself well out there today."

**Capekillers' Headquarters, Critical Condition Unit C**

"Did you get the injection in yet?" Doctor Ross asked impatiently.

"It is very difficult to work around the symbiote," Nurse Rose replied, she held the syringe and tried to find a place to stick it in, but wherever she went a small amount of symbiote reached out and thrust the needle aside. Toxin had severe burns on his left arm and side, the burning continued up his neck, but thanks to the writhing symbiote they couldn't see if his face had been affected. Toxin was delirious and in a great deal of pain, but the symbiote still tried to protect him. The fire had taken its toll on the alien symbiote as well. In several places it had been flash-fried and even the thrusting aside of the needle was weak.

"Get it in!" the doctor grouched at her. "If we don't get the symbiote and the man under control soon he could die! We have no idea how extensive his injuries are."

" . . . no . . . " Toxin breathed lightly, barely catching the attention of the nurse. She turned to look at his half-covered face.

"I think he just said something," she stopped what she was doing and looked at the doctor expectantly.

"Most likely the ramblings of a man delirious with pain," the doctor dismissed with a wave of his hand as he pulled on a green glove over it.

"It could be something important," the nurse argued her point. "We have no real medical research on these symbiotes."

"Do as your told," the doctor frowned at her before placing on a filtration mask. "That or you can look for a new doctor to work under, and after the review I would be forced to give you none of them would want you."

"Yes, Doctor," Nurse Rose pointed the needle at Toxin's arm again with the same result. She clicked her teeth in annoyance. "Can we at least get a restraint unit in here?"

"Fine," Doctor Ross agreed. He pushed a button that turned on the intercom to his secretary. "Can we get a level green restraint unit in here? The symbiote patient is struggling, and is causing me no end of annoyance, Teresa."

"Of course, Doctor Ross, I'll have two men down to join you at once," she said with perfect patience and control in her voice. Nurse Rose wondered how Teresa could even stomach coming into work every day.

**Capekiller new recruits' living quarters**

"I'll give Harrison credit for one thing, he may not have gotten my Ant-Man suit," Agent Crowne said absently to Calvin Rankin who glared up at his superior wondering why the man was chatting at him. "But he did bring me home a very interesting replacement gift."

"Look," Rankin interjected. "Not that I care, but how is Frank Payne?" After a few seconds of a cold glare from Crowne Rankin continued. "Us freaks, we have to watch out for each other and all, that's all."

"Yes," Agent Crowne said in annoyed voice. "I'm sure he'll be fine once our medical staff has a look at him, he didn't look all that bad when he came in."

"He was out cold and bleeding all over the floor."

"We have a wonderful medical staff," Crowne rolled his eyes openly at Rankin. "He'll be field ready before sunset."

"Field ready?"

"You boys didn't bring home your target, you haven't completed your mission yet," Crowne put his hands behind his back and stood directly in front Rankin. "You'll still have to bring O'Grady home."

"Let me at him," Rankin made an enormous fist that was enlarged many years ago when he had copied Hank McCoy's mutant powers. "I'll take him down myself. That little punk got lucky."

"There was a reason I was talking to you," Crowne reminded Rankin who was in charge. "You telepathically scanned him, who is he and what can he do?"

"You know him better than I do, he's your agent," Rankin objected.

"What?" Crowne looked down at Ranking. "No. Not O'Grady, you idiot, the symbiote that you brought in with you today."

"His name is Patrick Mulligan, or at least the human part of him is," Rankin explained. "The symbiote called himself Toxin."

"So it is male?"

"I don't know," Rankin waved a hairy hand casually at agent Crowne who clenched his teeth at the gesture. "I only scanned him for a second, I think the guy is a cop or a security guard, something like that. That's all I know."

"The files on you were disappointingly accurate," agent Crowne sighed. "You saw him in action, what can he do?"

"He's strong and fast too. You saw him, he has claws and fangs, I think he even shot some sort of sticky rope from himself."

"Hmmm, you said he was a cop?" Crowne stared away from Rankin now, lost in thought. "We'll have to use that angle. Agent Howard, get me what you can on any policemen in the area with the name Patrick Mulligan." He pressed a small button on an earpiece he wore. Without another word he left the man known as Mimic sitting alone on his bed, waiting for Frank Payne to return.

**Capekillers' Headquarters, Critical Condition Unit C**

Nurse Rose flinched as she finally got the needle into Toxin's exposed arm. She watched as the man under her care slowly relaxed and finally drifted into a peaceful sleep, and that's when everything went wrong.

As if the man himself had been holding the symbiote back the moment he fell asleep it seemed to suddenly bubble and wake all over his body. It screamed a high pitched sound that reminded Nurse Rose of nothing even close to human. It was controlling the man's body like a strange rag dummy. It was a strange and horrifying thing to watch. The man's head lolled about as he was still asleep from the shot she had given him, but his arms lashed out and hit both the SHIELD agents that Doctor Ross had called in to restrain it.

They both fell to the floor, unconscious. Next an arm lashed out at the doctor who was screaming into his intercom.

"It's out of control! All we did was knock out the human! We've unleashed something horrible here!" He was cut short when the symbiote's trunk of an arm crashed into his chest, causing his sternum to crack under the strain. Nurse Rose was next.

The thing turned on her, its head still lolling about, a long red tongue reached out from its gaping maw and lashed against her cheek. Tears ran freely down her cheeks it ran its rough tongue across her face, tasting her.

Before it could do anything further four SHIELD agents burst through the door, Agent Cancino among them. It screamed at them with its horrible shriek. Nurse Rose found herself joining it in its cry. She was shrieking in terror as it opened its mouth and revealed rows of sharp fangs and screeched again.

"Take it out fast!" Cancino ordered. "We don't want to kill it just put it to sleep or Crowne will have our asses."

"Uh, how do we do that?" one SHIELD agent asked as the creature slowly turned and advanced on them. It left the sobbing Nurse Rose shaking in a corner, tears streaming down her face.

"Well, obviously it doesn't like fire, lets see if these plasma blasters will do any good," Cancino said. "Just turn them down a notch."

"Are you sure?"

Before Cancino could reply the alien symbiote creature was upon them. With two quick flicks of its wrist Toxin shot some sort of black webbing from his wrists and sent two of the agents flying. It glanced at Cancino almost casually then stopped.

It snarled at him, it must recognize him from before. Before Cancino could think of what to do Toxin was upon him with a large muscled knee in his chest. It licked its fangs, green saliva oozing out of the side of its mouth. It grabbed at the joints in the back of his suit and began to pull it apart. Without thinking Cancino activated the electrical charge on his suit, despite the lack of a HUD.

The air crackled around them, ozone smells invaded the air along with a stench close to that of burning rubber. The thing hissed again and bounced backward and stared angrily at Agent Cancino. The slimy covering of the symbiote began to droop from the man inside's skin. Pressing his advantage, Cancino fired a few times with his plasma, wrist mounted, gun. It screeched again before finally collapsing onto the floor, it's red and black body oozed slowly onto the floor, uncovering at least a partial view of Mulligan's face. There were no significant burns there, but Nurse Rose wasn't paying any attention to that, instead she was slipping as she tried to flee the scene as fast as her legs would move. Doctor Ross moaned, he was still alive, but he was in bad condition.

"Agent Brookwell," Cancino ordered. "Get the night-shift medical team down here now; we have at least one life at stake." Cancino looked about him at all of the SHIELD employees lying on the floor, none of which were in any state to help themselves. "Let's get a clean up crew in here while you're at it. I'll take care of the monster here."

**Capekillers' Headquarters, Conference Room A**

Agent Crowne paced the floor, waiting for the mostly healed symbiote to arrive. He had caused a lot of damage, millions of dollars in equipment, Doctor Ross and Nurse Rose had quit, and to top it all off Agent Hunter was still, now over a week later, unable to join the team on field missions, stunting their numbers. He ran his thin fingers through his blonde hair that he kept permanently sleeked back, out of sight and out of mind. Crowne had little time or patience for keeping up with the latest hair styles or clothing trends.

"Agent Crowne," his secretary, Agent Mueller, called over the direct line into his room. "Mr. Mulligan is here to see you now."

"Send him in."

In seconds Patrick Mulligan walked through the door. He looked like someone would expect from a straight-laced police officer, a high and tight haircut, a good build to him, though greatly diminished from his Toxin form. Agent Crowne knew that despite the seemingly normal appearance of Mulligan the symbiote was present on him somewhere. Toxin could not live without his host, as they had learned in the past week, so he was always present in one form of disguise or another.

"Mr. Mulligan," Crowne stopped his pacing and calmly took a seat behind his mahogany desk. "You've cost us quite a lot of money, and injured a great number of our staff. You, of all people, should know we cannot just ignore what you have done."

"I'm sincerely sorry," Patrick returned though he seemed to be distracted when he did so. "I'm willing to pay you back every penny."

"On a security guard's salary?" Crowne asked, tossing a manila envelope over to the ex-police officer. "I rather doubt you'd make enough in your entire lifetime to repay what you have cost the American people in tax dollars."

Patrick sighed heavily as he picked up the envelope and sat down in front of Crowne's desk. He opened his folder and slowly began to thumb through the pages and photographs, they had enough on him here to put him away for a long time.

"Well, if I can't pay you back, then why have you brought me here?" Mulligan asked growing more and more irritated as he saw very personal things brought up in his file, including a watch on his estranged wife and baby child.

"Isn't it obvious?" Crowne asked sitting back satisfactorily in his large office chair. "It's your fault that our precious Ant-Man suit got away. I think it only fitting you join the team on a very short term basis, at least until we catch O'Grady."

Patrick Mulligan stared long and hard at agent Crowne, one thing he had learned as a police officer was that no government official made a deal without some hidden strings attached. The trick was finding those strings and cutting them before they had you dancing like a puppet, as they had done to Constrictor and Mimic. Mulligan was rarely one to question his government, or even authority, but it was obvious to him that all was not kosher in the Capekiller program. He just had to find out what.

"I would much rather have you on the team than have the headache of taking you to a very public court hearing," Crowne added.

Mulligan clenched his teeth, but kept his mouth shut. He sat silently looking blankly at Crowne as if he didn't understand, though he knew full well that the man was trying to manipulate him into the same corner he had placed the other so called "criminals" that participated in the Capekiller program.

"I'll agree," Mulligan said after a small pause. "On one condition; I get it in writing and signed by you personally that I am free to leave as soon as we catch and deliver O'Grady to you."

Crowne smiled a brilliant white smile and slid some forms across the desk for Mulligan to sign. "Welcome to the Capekillers, we're glad to have you."

As soon as he was done signing Mulligan got up without a word of apology, "I'm sure you are." He walked out of the room and didn't look back, he didn't know if he could stand the sight of Crowne right now. Crowne watched him leave with a frown on his face, he should have been happy as he had gotten exactly what he wanted, but something inside of him told him that things were not going to turn out as he had so carefully planned.

**Capekiller new recruits' living quarters**

"So they got to you too, huh?" Payne asked as Mulligan walked in the door. "Why am I not surprised? It won't be nearly as easy to get out as it was to get in. You know that, right? Once they have you there's almost no chance of escape."

"I signed a deal," Mulligan replied. "I'll be out of here as soon as we catch that O'Grady punk that burned me so badly."

"We all signed a deal, man," Mimic told the ex-cop. "Somehow we're still here, and some of us had a lot less to pay for."

"Listen I'm sorry I screwed up your mission," Patrick Mulligan rubbed the back his neck sheepishly. "I have this, "danger sense". When anything bad is going down nearby or there's a threat I get a little buzzing in my head. I got that when I dropped in on you, I mean come on you guys were the only thing that looked remotely threatening in there. How was I supposed to know that the real danger was only an inch high at the time?"

"Screw the mission," Payne growled. "They're gonna have you in here forever, just like the rest of us. Did you sign any papers?"

"Yes, it stated I would be released as soon as we brought in O'Grady."

"You're screwed," Payne shook his head, one of his coils whipped about as it were the tail of an annoyed cat. "You should have listened to what I told you when I came to see you in Recovery. Never sign anything they place in front of you, these guys are masters at finding those little legal loopholes that screws the other guy. If you ask me, what they do is far worse than any mercenary or petty thief."

"Hn," Rankin grunted his agreement, though he didn't say a word. He would bet every penny he had that they had bugs in their room of some type if not even hidden cameras, though as of yet his daily searches had provided no evidence.

"Capekillers, get to the War Room, we have a mission!" Harrison's voice came over the intercom.

"Here comes my ticket home," Mulligan rubbed his hands together with a smile. Suddenly his shirt began to move and changed colors from a plain white to a blood red. The symbiote had taken the form and color of Mulligan's clothes for him. That was how it was always on him without being seen. Frank Payne's eyes narrowed. What if the symbiote was holding out on Mulligan about its true potential?

"Let's go already," Toxin said in his eerie dual voice. "I want to get back to my crappy apartment in Queens."

**Somewhere High above New York**

"Alright boys," Harrison stood in the carrier helicopter in front of his team, minus Hunter who was still recouping from injuries sustained in their last mission. "You think you can handle that without any armor, newbie?"

"No problem, Harrison," Toxin gave a thumbs up sign, it was one of the strangest sights the poor pilot of the helicopter had seen.

"We're going in low," Harrison warned. "So no parachutes this time just make sure to land on your feet."

"Do not, and I don't want to have to repeat this, Do NOT engage the enemy without my express permission, unless I'm out for the count, then you take orders from Cancino. You got it, 'killers?"

"Yes sir," agents Cancino and Castillo barked. Mimic and Constrictor nodded their agreement.

"Then I get to go home right, Harrison?"

"Okay boys, this is it," Harrison shouted, ignoring Toxin's question. "We have drop in three . . . two . . ."

The floor of the copter opened up and the Capekillers dropped like stones. Mimic quickly folded his wings and dove toward Constrictor. With his hamfists he grabbed the mercenary's coils and then spread his wings to slow their descent. Toxin let himself drop until buildings were suddenly next to him. He shot out a sticky line almost like webbing and swung down toward a column of smoke not too far below.

When Harrison and the others landed their armor absorbed the shock of the blow and it felt to Cancino as if he had merely dropped a few feet. "I'm really lovin' the new suits, Harrison."

"Don't thank me, thank Tony Stark," Harrison waited silently and it was only a few seconds before the three superhumans they worked with arrived. Mimic dropped off Constrictor then looped around to slow his descent enough for a light landing. Toxin dropped in next to him, recalling the webbing like substance and reabsorbing it into the symbiote suit.

"What are we walking into?" Frank Payne asked his coils sliding back into their casing until only half a foot was left to lazily swing about.

"Agent Harrison!" a female's voice interrupted. "You've come back for another beating I see, and look, you've brought some new friends."

"That isn't O'Grady!" Toxin hissed.

"No shit, Sherlock," Castillo growled at the symbiote.

"Where is he then?"

"We're not after him this time," Harrison growled. "We've come to take Joystick here home with us."

Joystick manifested two energy batons that lit up her face in an eerie red glow, "Don't count on it."

**To be continued . . . **

First of all I wanted to state a big apology to everyone on this site especially the esteemed EiCs for my extended absence. I have been officially diagnosed with Crohn's disease and I had to take some time off of work for surgery as there were several sections of intestine that needed to be removed. While I was on this extended absence I was very ill, and I was never paid by my insurance or my company's short term disability insurance company either and my partner has been without a job for over a year now so I lost my internet service and I had a bout of depression, any way I am finally back at work and beginning the long slow process of financial and physical recovery. Things are looking up and I am glad I was finally diagnosed correctly so we could get a solution.

Now, onto . . . .

**Capekillers' Comments**

**(real name tbd)**

Another great issue. I thought the interactions between the characters were lot crisper and seem to become almost natural for Tim. The surprise twist at the end was almost kind of expected, but worth it. I'm still wondering just who Agent Crowne allegiance belongs to, and if his intentions are noble.

I think Constrictor and Mimic are becoming amusing additions to the team. Constrictor's annoyance at trying to capture the thief who stole the Ant Man suit had me rolling. If I had any questions, I do wonder if Mimic will be replacing any of his powers for ones that fit his brawler style?

If Tim was taking any suggestions, I'd suggest replacing Xavier's telepathy for either Wolverine's powers, or Callisto's.

Other than that, I really enjoyed it.

-Mick

**First off, thank you for the praise, always makes my day when other writers whom I respect enjoy my work. **** You are wise to suspect agent Crowne though he ****may**** not be a villain he is certainly not a man of high moral fiber, as you will see in coming issues. As for Mimic I am planning on swapping out a power or two, but that will come in due time. Thanks again for the comments. **

**-Tim**

"**Gibbering Fool" commented . . .**

Mimic powers are always confusing. The 616 version (whom this version branches from) had the original 616 X-men's powers but seemed to be able to mimic other on top of that, just not permanently. Then we had the Exiles version, who could only mimic five powers, but permanently. I'd like to see someone clarify Mimic 616's powers.

What if he could drop one of the Original X-men powers to Mimic another, but he can recall that original power again, as if the Original X-men's abilities are permanently imprinted on his template?

**At the moment I have him limited to the powers of the five original X-Men, but if I am allowed to continue this series past the initial 12 issues I presented you will get a much better idea of how Mimic's powers truly work (or at least the most accurate vision I could pull from my resources).**

**-Tim**

**Capekillers #2-3 by T.L. Veselka******

**I think the movie that I can most easily compare this title to is S.W.A.T. or rather what S.W.A.T. wanted to be which was a gritty crime drama showing the real intensity of someone working in that type of business. T.L. manages to show that humans in the Marvel Universe can put up a good fight against their superpowered counterparts with the right tools. I applaud T.L. for not giving into weakness and focusing on the superpowered characters introduced into his cast. He keeps the focus on the human SHIELD agents making up this task force.******

**Agent Harrison nails the grizzled leader role, but still manages to be a great deal likeable. He's tough on those underneath him, but you can tell its only because he cares about their safety and well-being. Going soft on them won't keep them alive in combat situations. Agent Crowne is the perfect political superior who's always an asshole and always trying to take credit for success. You want a bullet to get shot through his head, but you know its never going to happen. He's the kind of character you need around to make tension. I really don't have a good image of Crowne in my head though. I think maybe T.L. should slow it down a bit and describe some of these agents in depth again. Just describing original characters once and expecting them to stick in the reader's mind is a method I have found personally doesn't work. The image needs to be reinforced. ******

**Mimic and Constrictor are normally not two characters I would expect to see in a title together, but that's just a bonus in my mind. I'm so sick of seeing fanfic that recycles the same old character dynamic and same old classic rosters. Let's spice it up and T.L. does that. One might worry that the superhuman characters get to be shown as more effective than the human SHIELD agents but that's not the case here. They all seem to be pretty equal and Harrison shows no lack of nerve when commanding these two superhumans. ******

**Toxin's appearance at the end of issue 3 threw me off a bit because it seemed so damn out of nowhere, but I liked how the agents analyzed him. I guess overall I just like that SHIELD agents are being shown as capable people in this series and not just throwaway background characters. CAPEKILLERS is a prime example of the daring that all of fanfic needs to have IMO. There are some things here and there that could use some work. Personally, I would like to see some more potent threats, but T.L. has me just because of the fact he's trying something new. Kudos.**

**-Brent Lambert**

**Thanks for the kind comments, Brent. I am glad you are enjoying how I have been focusing on the normal humans in this unit, as you can see the super humans got a bit more show time than before, but I will continue to focus on the perspective that I think the average reader would best understand the story, from a "normal" human perspective. As for the feedback on reinforcing the images it's greatly appreciated and I hope you can see that here and there I tried to incorporate what you said more into the story. I'm sorry Toxin's appearance seemed "out of nowhere" but I tried to explain it to the best of my ability in this issue. As far as potent threats go, now that Agent Crowne has Toxin under his thumb and the powered up 'killers suits he is ready to go after some bigger fish as you will soon see.**

**Thank you all for reading this issue of Capekillers, hopefully you all enjoyed. Next up we have a big battle with Joystick who has taken down the Capekillers before, will it go the same way again or will the added members really make a difference? Plus, their next target has a few on the team wishing they had settled for prison . . . see who it is all in Capekillers #5**


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